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Coronation Street is a British soap opera which chronicles the lives of the residents of a backstreet terrace in Weatherfield, a fictional town in the north of England. Created by Tony Warren and produced by Granada Television and then ITV plc for the country's main commercial network, it was first transmitted on 9th December 1960 and is the world's longest-running television drama series.

~ 1980 ~

2000th special — *TV Times* special cover

Violet Carson made her final appearance as Ena Sharples in April. Carson had struggled with ill health for some time and throughout the late 1970s Ena was regularly written out, with Carson returning to the role when she was able. In Episode 1983, Ena made a low-key departure from Weatherfield - deciding she'd had quite enough of Albert Tatlock's hospitality while the builders worked on her flat, she swapped the smoky skies of Weatherfield for the sea air at her usual retreat, Lytham St Annes. She was expected to make a comeback but Carson's health worsened later in the year and she never returned to filming. The Community Centre flat, freshly rebuilt in brick on the Grape Street set, would lie empty for a year.

Coronation Street reached two milestones in 1980. In June, to celebrate the 2000th episode, a cast party was specially convened on the Grape Street set which was covered by the TV Times special Coronation Street 2000. Priced 60p, it featured on the cover Ena Sharples, Elsie Tanner, Ken Barlow and Albert Tatlock watching Tracy Langton struggling to blow the candles out on the 2000th commemorative cake (pictured above). This was supposedly one of the last times that Violet Carson donned her costume in the character of Ena Sharples. The other milestone, the 20th anniversary on 9th December, went unmarked.

To celebrate 60 years of Coronation Street on television, we're going through the programme's entire history a year at a time. The full version of this article can be found here. Check back on 27th May for 1981!

Josie Clarke

Josie Clarke was a short-term Coronation Street resident who moved into No.5 with Don Brennan after his marriage to Ivy ended. In 1996, Josie and Don were scammed into buying MVB Motors at an inflated price by Mike Baldwin, who employed Josie as office manager at his factory Baldwin's Sportswear. When the garage went into receivership due to Don's poor business decisions, Don turned against Josie, causing her to leave him. Away from Don, Josie's life improved and as of 1997 she was married to a doctor.

Previous featured characters: Evelyn Plummer; Jacob Hay; Zoe Tattersall; Ivy Brennan; Oliver Battersby; Summer Spellman.

...that Anthony Schaeffer holds the current record of most roles in the programme with fifteen credited to date?
...that the first episode of the programme ever transmitted that did not feature any of the original cast members from 1960 was Episode 1428 (23rd September 1974)?
...that Stanley Wood, who wrote Episode 1237 (22nd November 1972), was the father of comedian Victoria Wood?
...that in Episode 1183 (17th May 1972), the character of Rita Bates gave her maiden name as "Foster" and not the later-established "Littlewood"?
...that although the character of Armistead Caldwell had died in 1935, his voice was heard in Episode 1256 (29th January 1973)?
...that the first ever repeat of an episode of Coronation Street was on Friday 10th February 1961 when strike action prevented the transmission of that night's edition and Episode 1 was shown in its place?

"Well it's a rough old pub and it needs a rough old bird to keep charge of it."
Mike Baldwin

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Current week Mon 15th Apr (20.00) Wed 17th Apr (20.00) Fri 19th Apr (20.00)


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This week on : Episode 5841 (8th September 2004) to Episode 5850 (20th September 2004)

19 April — Les Battersby shows his pleasure at having contributed to Hayley Patterson's happiness

19th April 1999: On the eve of her wedding to Roy Cropper, Hayley Patterson was despondent that none of her friends seemed bothered about a hen night but she was delighted when the girls took her round to 5 Coronation Street and unveiled a party with plenty of food and drink to consume and - a special gift - a train specially made in Underworld to go with her wedding dress. Far less happy when he returned home after the party was Les Battersby who found that his house had been used as a venue for "that freak" but that was nothing compared to when Janice gleefully told him that she had sold his prized record collection to pay for the party. Les swore vengeance...